Author: Emil Lazarian

SUBBOTNIK ON THE EVE OF EASTER
A1+
[04:01 pm] 10 April, 2006
“What’s the use of the tree planting if young and old trees are
periodically chopped down?” This sort of questions were asked during
the municipality briefing in which Romik Kosemyan participated. The
head of the Municipality ecological administration gave details about
the course and results of the tree planting this year.
According to the information, in early 2006 the municipality intended
to plant 30 thousand trees and 40 thousand bushes, together with the
reconstruction of the irrigation systems in the same places. The
municipality decided to join the famous program “Joint Tree
Planting”. Together they will plant 90 thousand trees.
According to Kosemyan, about 260 hectares of non-irrigated land has
been included in the joint program. The municipality has allotted
about 200 million AMD for the realization of the project.
Let us also add that April 15 is announced a subbotnik.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS WORK SEPARATELY
A1+
[04:08 pm] 10 April, 2006
OSCE Minsk group French co-chair Bernard Fassier has started a regional
visit. According to “Trend” agency, he arrived in Azerbaijan this
morning. He intends to carry out consultations in Baku about the
peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict.
During the visit Bernard Fassier will meet Azeri President Ilham
Aliev. Tomorrow he will render a press conference in the French
Embassy in Azerbaijan. The journalists were informed in the Embassy
that after the Baku visit Fassier will arrive in Yerevan.
Besides this, another regional visit will be organized soon: on
April 18 OSCE Minsk group American co-chair Steven Mann will visit
the region. This information was given by the Azeri Foreign Minister
Elmar Mamedyarov.
Mann will try to get acquainted with the attitudes of Armenia
and Azerbaijan towards the US offers about the settlement of the
conflict. Let us remind you that this visit will be the second after
the Rambouillet meeting of the two Presidents.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS VARTAN OSKANIAN CONCLUDED A ONE-DAY WORKING VISIT TO THE SYRIAN CAPITAL
Panorama.am
14:00 10/04/06
In Damascus, on April 8, Minister Oskanian met with Syrian Foreign
Minister Walid al-Moualem. During that meeting, the two spoke at
length about bilateral as well as regional matters. They specifically
focused on cooperation in international forums, educational and
economic exchange, as well as institutional cooperation. They also
spoke at length about the Nagorno Karabakh negotiation process,
Armenia-Turkey relations, as well as the situation in Iraq and other
matters in both regions.
Earlier in the day, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad also received the
Armenian delegation. Minister Oskanian informed him about political
and economic developments within Armenia and in the region.
President Assad expressed his appreciation at the traditionally warm
relations between Armenians and Syrians and said that should serve
as a foundation for deepening ties, especially in the economic sphere.
The Minister’s Damascus visit concluded with a reception at the
embassy, attended by representatives of community organizations and
religious leaders.
On Sunday, the Minister will be in Aleppo at the 100th anniversary
celebration of the Armenian General Benevolent Union and the 75th
anniversary celebration of the Armenian Youth Association.
Press and information department of Ministry of foreign affairs of
the Republic of Armenia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE STATEMENT OF NKR MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Lragir.am
10 April 06
Recently cases of violation of the ceasefire at the front line have
become more frequent due to the lack of an adequate appraisal of
top-level militaristic statements voiced in Azerbaijan.
The border incidents, which caused the number of casualties to go
up, deepen mutual mistrust and may lead to a serious escalation of
tensions in the zone of conflict over Nagorno Karabakh, threatening
stability in the entire region. With regard to this Nagorno Karabakh
Republic confirms its standpoint on a peace settlement of the conflict
and commitment to the maintenance of cease-fire, set down in the
February 6, 1995 agreement signed by the defense ministers of NKR,
the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan.
We call the other two parties, the Republic of Azerbaijan and the
Republic of Armenia, which signed the abovementioned agreement,
for joining our initiative, and we hope that by cooperative effort
and mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, as well as other
international mediators and interested parties, it will be possible
to confirm commitment to this agreement and fulfill the instruments
set down in the document for localizing incidents at the front line.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PACE SPRING SESSION TO START TODAY IN STRASBURG
ArmRadio.am
10.04.2006 10:24
The spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe will start today in Strasburg. Two issues immediately related
to Armenian are included in the agenda, i.e. the state of refugees
and displaced persons in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan and the
rights of servicemen.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

40 IRANIAN FIRMS BLACKLISTED IN UK
Brian Brady
The Scotsman, UK
April 9 2006
Westminster Editor ([email protected])
THERE are 43 names. The great and the good of Iran’s industrial
and scientific community, the obscure, the famous and, perhaps,
the infamous.
Their titles were quietly released into the public domain for the
first time only days ago by the Department of Trade and Industry
(DTI) in a swift operation claiming to be merely giving British firms
updated guidance on the trading situation with Tehran.
It was, in fact, far more important than that. The British government
is effectively blacklisting dozens of Iranian entities, including
state bodies like Tehran University. In a climate of rising concerns
about the intentions of Iranian leaders and their advancing nuclear
programme – criticised by foreign secretary Jack Straw last month,
who warned Tehran of possible sanctions if it failed to heed UN
Security Council demands to halt its production of enriched uranium –
this was a clear demonstration of how deeply those fears are felt.
Across Europe and much of the western world the fears about Tehran’s
intentions are growing. Two weeks ago, customs investigators marched
into the business premises of the German-Armenian partnership NTV,
in the infamous “millionaires’ neighbourhood” of Bad Homburg, and
began seizing documents about its dealings with Iran.
The swoop was not an isolated case: 40 more German companies
of varying sizes and interests were caught up in the nationwide
operation, carried out by 250 police and customs officials. They
were all suspected of involvement in a German-Russian network that
may have helped the Iranians advance a nuclear programme that the
West now fears only military action can dismantle.
NTV, a nondescript telecommunications firm owned by a colourful
business partnership obsessed with racehorse breeding and gambling,
had reportedly arranged for a cable drum to be dispatched to an
Iranian weapons importer.
The firm, and its owners, attracted the attention of the a public
prosecutor. In turn he realised there was a connection to the
activities of the defunct Berlin firm Vero Handels GmbH, which is now
suspected of having scoured Germany for special parts for construction
of the Iranian Bushehr nuclear reactor.
As their colleagues throughout Germany were stomping into 41 companies
last month, officials at the Department of Trade and Industry in London
were attempting to tighten the net around their own business community.
Britain has had an arms embargo against Iran in place for 13 years.
The policy, amended by Robin Cook as Foreign Secretary in 1998,
purports to prevent all items on the “military list” or “nuclear list”
leaving these shores bound for Tehran.
The sanctions do not, however, prohibit all business between the
two countries. In the final three months of last year, for example,
British firms got DTI approval for £3m-worth of exports, covering a
list of items including biotechnology equipment, civil aircraft and
gas detection equipment.
And here is the problem: a number of items are acknowledged to be
“dual-use” – able to be applied for both fair and foul means –
but licences are often granted as long as exporters can convince
the authorities that they will be used for industrial or research
purposes. The “end-use” monitoring system, which effectively places
firms on trust, has long been the target of condemnation by campaigners
against arms trading.
The DTI’s switch in policy towards Iran last month attempted
to tackle this issue at source. Via an understated announcement
on its website, the DTI offshoot the Export Control Organisation
(ECO) revealed it was extending its guidance to would-be exporters,
“given the current concerns about Iran in particular”. Along with
the amendments, the bureaucrats added “a list of Iranian entities”
intended to help exporters “judge which exports might potentially be
of concern on end use grounds”.
The sense of foreboding is overpowering. Despite the ECO’s determined
attempts to underplay the move, a cursory glance at the list of Iranian
“entities” now effectively blacklisted by the British government
reveals the gravity of the situation.
Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, Esfahan Chemical Industries,
Government of Iran, Department of Defence, Iranian Mineral Processing
Research Centre, Nuclear Research Centre for Agriculture And Medicine,
and Tehran University. Most worryingly, given the DTI’s recently
discovered concerns about these organisations, 12 of the 43 have
already taken delivery of goods from Britain in the past.
“The purpose of a list there is to alert UK exporters to end-users
that we are concerned about in Iran,” trade minister Malcolm Wicks
said when asked about controls over exports to Iran. “That is an
example of how, when there is a concern, we disseminate that concern
to appropriate companies.”
Such concern does not, yet, translate itself into harsh demands for
compliance from British business – nor suggest that the government
itself will be making an enormous effort to tighten the net. “This
information may be factored into your business planning and help
you to make informed decisions on whether to contact the ECO,” the
organisation’s guidance adds. “The list may be amended from time to
time and should be checked regularly if you are planning business
with Iran.”
The approach contrasts sharply with that of the Americans, who maintain
a comprehensive embargo on business with Iran, and come down heavily
upon anyone suspected of helping a key element of the “axis of evil”
augment their offensive powers.
~U IT WAS reported last night that US President George Bush is making
plans for a large scale bombing strike on Iran, targeting sites where
uranium is thought to be enriched.
The use of force is being considered in case diplomatic efforts to
persuade Tehran to stop its nuclear programme fail.
This article: 62006
–Boundary_(ID_BIgyQo423sZYKDlwU7RJVA)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE IRAQ MESS: KURDISH SEPARATISTS ARE ADDING TO THE WITCH’S BREW
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania)
April 9, 2006 Sunday
Region Edition
Last week another Iraq war-related problem turned up. In southeast
Turkey, near its border with Iraq, ethnic Kurd separatists encouraged
by the growing independence of Kurdistan in northern Iraq battled
with Turkish security forces, leaving 15 dead.
The United States has leaned on Iraq’s Kurds for support since the
beginning of the Iraq war. In the beginning it was because the Kurds
were opposed to Saddam Hussein’s Arab regime. Later, it was because
the Kurds were the only important Iraqi group that appeared to like
the United States.
The Sunnis, who with Saddam Hussein had ruled Iraq for decades, hated
the United States for its invasion and overthrow of their rule. The
Sunnis now form the core of insurgent resistance to U.S. rule. The
Shiites always were lukewarm on the Americans, even though they
advocated the democracy and majority rule that would put them in
power during the occupation.
That left the Kurds. Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani became president.
As Iraq has failed to put together a central government, three years
after the U.S. invasion, nearly four months after the elections,
the Kurdish north of the country has become increasingly autonomous.
Ethnic Kurds in neighboring Turkey, Iran, Syria and Armenia have
remarked on the growing strength and independence of Iraqi Kurdistan,
and have become heartened in their desire for their own country by
developments there.
In U.S. NATO ally Turkey, where an estimated 25 percent of the
population are ethnic Kurds, and where an estimated 30,000 were killed
in previous conflict in the 1980s, the issue blew up recently.
The United States told Turkey in early 2005 that it wouldn’t do
anything about Kurdish separatists acting against Turkey from Iraq.
Given other U.S. preoccupations in Iraq at this time and continued
U.S. reliance on the Kurds, it is unlikely to change that position now.
In the meantime, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made
it clear that he will put up with no nonsense from Kurdish separatists
in Turkey.
This is another very old problem that the Bush administration should
have taken into account before crashing into Iraq, and particularly
before signing up the Kurds as America’s principal ally there.
In the meantime, the snarl in naming an Iraqi government four months
after the elections remains. The Kurds and the Sunnis won’t agree to
the Shiites’ choice of Ibrahim al-Jaafari for prime minister, selected
by the Shiite majority in February. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice and her travelling partner, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw,
visited Baghdad last week and sought to advance the candidacy of Vice
President Adel Abdul Mahdi for the prime minister slot in place of
Mr. al-Jaafari. It doesn’t appear to have worked.
Meanwhile, reconstruction is stalled in Iraq, proceeding in only
four of 18 provinces. Religious conflict between Sunnis and Shiites
proceeds. Another bomb in a Shiite mosque killed 71 on Friday. If the
strife cannot be called civil war — a term the Bush administration
resists despite the growing ethnic cleansing — it is quacking like
that duck.
U.S. deaths in Iraq continue to rise above 2,300. The cost of the war
to the United States is estimated at about $300 billion. President
Bush continues to assure Americans that we are winning.
If we are winning it is hard to imagine how bad it would be if we
were losing. The regional expansion of the trouble in Iraq into Turkey
through the Kurds is one of the worst developments to occur yet.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MORE THAN 1 MILLION ITALIANS ABROAD CAST BALLOTS IN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION
By Marta Falconi, Associated Press Writer
Associated Press Worldstream
April 9, 2006 Sunday 12:05 AM GMT
More than 1 million Italians living abroad voted in the country’s
parliamentary election, according to a final tally, and their ballots
could be decisive in a close race.
This election marked the first time expatriates were allowed to vote
in a general election without having to travel back to Italy.
Around 1.1 million Italians abroad, or 42 percent of those eligible,
sent in their ballots by mail in early voting, the Foreign Ministry
said on Saturday.
Official results won’t be released until after the Sunday-Monday
domestic voting to choose between blocs led by Premier Silvio
Berlusconi and his center-left challenger, former European Commission
President Romano Prodi.
About 2.6 million citizens abroad were eligible to vote to elect 18
lawmakers who, for the first time, will be responsible for representing
their interests in the national legislature. Those lawmakers will fill
12 new seats in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of parliament,
and six in the Senate.
Around 47 million citizens who live in Italy will vote this weekend.
Latin American consulates reported the highest average ballot return
rate, with about 52 percent of Italians voting, the ministry said.
The highest return was in Uruguay, where 63 percent of Italians
voted. Campaigning politicians paid special attention to Latin America
Argentina in particular because it is home to hundreds of thousands
of expatriates. Fifty-six percent of Italians living there voted.
Europe had an average return rate of about 38 percent, with Armenia
topping the list with 95 percent, the ministry reported. About 37
percent of Italians living in North America voted, with the highest
returns in Barbados at 81 percent. Africa, Asia and Oceania reported
an average of 44 percent, with 100 percent or 32 people voting in
Kuwait, the ministry said.
Until now, Italians wishing to vote in their country’s general
elections had to fly back to Italy. A 2001 law, one of the first pieces
of legislation from Berlusconi’s five-year conservative government,
gave citizens who live abroad the right to vote by mail.
The expatriate representatives will have full voting rights in
Italy’s parliament, giving Italians abroad the chance to influence
decisions not just on issues concerning them directly, but also on
those affecting domestic policies in Italy.
In addition to giving overseas voters the right to cast ballots,
the law also created four huge electoral districts to represent
Italians who live overseas in Parliament, which is composed of a
315-seat Senate and 630-seat Chamber of Deputies.
In recent weeks, politicians of all stripes have been crisscrossing
the globe trying to woo voters.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WHO SHOULD BE AMONG THIS YEAR’S PICKS FOR THE TIME 100?
Time
April 17, 2006
U.S. Edition
To help make the selection, TIME asked earlier honorees whom they would
select as the world’s most influential people. This week’s installment:
AISHWARYA RAI The ex–Miss World conquered Bollywood and became an
international film star: I would like to submit Oprah Winfrey as my
nomination. There are those who are born to be leaders, and she is
one of them. Oprah is a healer of lost souls. She continues to lead
millions of people to their path of personal happiness. She has a
powerful and generous spirit, with the heart of a goddess. She is
both admired and loved.
ANDREW WEIL An expert in the art of integrating Western medicine with
herbal healing Richard Davidson is a pioneer in exciting mind-body
medicine frontiers. His best-known work focuses on a capacity of
the brain to develop and change throughout life. Using Tibetan monks
as research subjects, he has shown how meditation can improve brain
function. His studies may lead to therapeutic approaches for anxiety
disorders and reveal ways to protect against memory loss and cognitive
decline.
STEPHEN LEWIS The U.N.’s special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa is the
author of Race Against Time: I suggest Michelle Bachelet, Chile’s
first female President. She has set an astonishing precedent by
appointing a Cabinet of exact gender parity. Also Liberia’s new woman
President, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who broke the monolithic boys’ club
of Africa. She will bring economic and social justice to her country.
And Zackie Achmat, who leads the world’s most important AIDS activist
organization. He has brought hope to millions living with AIDS
in Africa.
SAMANTHA POWER A Harvard University professor, her book on genocide won
a Pulitzer Prize in 2003: I nominate Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk. He
has acknowledged his homeland’s genocide against the Armenians and
nearly got himself arrested before the Turks decided their commitment
to and pride in their greatest writer exceeded a commitment to killers
who died almost a century ago. It could bring a cultural change. Also
George Clooney, for the obvious reasons, and the students who led
the divestment movement on campuses for Darfur.

Nagornyy Karabakh Republic urges Armenia, Azerbaijan to maintain
cease-fire
Arminfo, Yerevan
8 Apr 06

Stepanakert, 8 April: Cease-fire violations have lately become more
frequent on the contract line between the armed forces of the Nagornyy
Karabakh and Azerbaijan. This results from the lack of a proper
evaluation of bellicose statements made in Azerbaijan at the top
level, the foreign ministry of the Nagornyy Karabakh republic [NKR]
said in a statement on 8 April.
The incidents, which have increased casualties on the contract line,
are deepening mutual distrust and can seriously escalate tensions in
the Karabakh conflict zone, which threatens stability in the entire
region, the statement said.
“In this connection, the Nagornyy Karabakh republic confirms its
adherence only to the peaceful settlement of the conflict, as well as
its readiness to implement the sides’ open-ended obligations to
maintain the cease-fire, which is confirmed by the 6 February 1995
agreement signed between the defence ministers of the NKR, Armenia and
Azerbaijan. We call on the two other parties that signed the
agreement, namely Azerbaijan and Armenia, to joint our initiative. We
hope that through joint efforts and with the mediation of the OSCE
Minsk Group co-chairmen and other international mediators and
interested sides, it will be possible to confirm our adherence to the
agreement and implement the mechanisms it indicates in order to
localize incidents on the armed forces’ contact line,” the statement
said.
The NKR confirms its position that along with the strict observance of
the cease-fire, other preconditions for a peaceful solution are a
peace process that involves all the parties to the conflict,
confidence-building, the strengthening of democracy and respect for
human rights, the statement said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress